Kagome's Birthday
by Miss Emily Strange
Summary: The title says it all really. It's Kagome's birthday, will InuYasha ruin it or make it better?
1. The Day Before

Disclaimer: Damn i hate these things! But I'd hate being sued more so… NO! I do NOT own Inu-Yasha! This is a very good thing because if I did, I'd probably ruin it anyway.

**Chapter 1- The Day Before**

"Inu-Yasha, look out!"

The half demon turned just in time to see and avoid the spider demon's attack. This demon was proving to be difficult to beat, having acquired two shikon shards and had managed to catch the group by surprise. Sango and Miroku had been knocked out and Inu-Yasha had several feet of strong sticky spider web binding his arms behind his back, somewhat restricting his movement. The spider, which was about the size of a small house, was trying to crush the cursing Inu-Yasha under one of its eight legs. Inu-Yasha ripped through the web binding him and leaped, claws exposed, towards the spider. But this attack didn't work as the spider shot out more of the sticky web which this time covered his entire body and bound him to the ground. Now his prey was unable to move the spider raised two of its legs to crush the trapped half demon. "Hey! Ugly!" Kagome yelled, raising her bow and shooting at the oversized arachnid. The arrow sliced off the two large hairy legs and the spider demon screeched in pain before turning and fleeing into the forest. Kagome ran to the moving pile of sticky spider web which was Inu-Yasha and proceeded to peel the substance off of him. It took a while but finally the half demon was free. He jumped up and looked around franticly.

"Where is it?" He asked.

"It ran off into the forest." Kagome answered, very aware of what was coming next.

"Oh great!" He sighed sarcastically, "Tell me you got the shards." She looked at the ground,

"Sorry, the shards were in its body, I only managed to hit its legs." There proceeded a large argument, just like many before, and about halfway through it Miroku and Sango revived.

"Oh no," sighed Sango after sitting up and rubbing her head, "they're at it again!" Miroku nodded solemnly, before lying back down on the ground.

"What are you doing?" Sango asked him.

"Well we both know this fights going to last for a while, and I think I'd rather stay out of the way, for my own safety." She saw his point and lay back down on the grass. There the monk and the warrior stayed until the other two had finished their dispute.

**Later that evening**

"Well, we'll just have to find that damn spider tomorrow." The group were resting in Kaede's hut, bandaged up where needed and joined by Shippō, who had remained behind on this particular mission due to previous injuries. Kagome's head snapped up at Inu-Yasha's words,

"Tomorrow! But I have to go back home tonight!"

"WHAT!"

"I've already packed," she indicated the huge bag next to her, "I have to leave tonight."

"Why? Is it another one of those _exams_?" Kagome picked up her bag and turned to the door, which was promptly blocked.

"Inu-Yasha." Kagome sighed.

"You're not leaving."

"Oh yes I am, now get out of my way." "NO! We need to get those shards!" "Inu-Yasha…" she growled, fuming "SIT!" The angry half demon found himself crashing to the ground, cracking the wooden floorboards below him. "I'm leaving!" Kagome announced. "I'll be back in a couple of days. Sorry about your floor Kaede." She left the small hut and went to the well.

"That wench!" Inu-Yasha shouted as he jumped up, "why did she leave now? Why couldn't she have waited until we had gotten the shards off of that damn spider!"

"Now now Inu-Yasha," Miroku said calmly, "don't be so ungrateful. Lady Kagome has been with us five days now, and remember, her family and home are on the other side of that well."

"Poor Kagome," murmured Shippō, "she must get homesick a lot." Inu-Yasha huffed and turned away from the group, but secretly he felt a little guilty. _I never thought about it like that_ he thought _maybe I should apologise… _After a little more thought he made up his mind, he would give her tonight to calm down and he would visit her tomorrow. Meanwhile Kagome was in her room fuming at Inu-Yasha's selfishness. She was one step away from being angry enough to throw things, when her mother came in.

"Now now Kagome," she said gently, "this is no way for a girl to be on the night before her birthday. You're supposed to be happy and excited."

"Oh I'm sorry mum," Kagome apologised, "Inu-Yasha just makes me so mad sometimes."

"Well that's a shame, I was hoping to see him at the party tomorrow." Kagome laughed at her mums words.

"There's no chance he'd come even if I did invite him, I can assure you mum." Her mum left and Kagome flopped down onto her bed, trying to focus on the reason she had come back home. Her 16th birthday. She had planned to tell the others and maybe invite Inu-Yasha over, but then decided that he would probably just see it as a waste of time while they could be looking for shards. So in the end she didn't tell any of her feudal friends that it was her birthday. Sighing, she went to get ready for bed, maybe the party tomorrow would make her feel better.


	2. Happy Birthday Kagome! We hope

Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own Inu-Yasha. But if I did you can bet he's be topless a hell of a lot more!

**Chapter 2- HAPPY BIRTHDAY! **

Inu-Yasha got up late the next day and went to the well. Getting out at Kagome's time, he exited the shrine and climbed up to her window. Pushing it open he dropped onto her bedroom floor and looked around, but Kagome wasn't there. Thinking she may be elsewhere in the house he left her room to find her. Entering the corridor, his nose twitched as he smelt a familiar scent, but it wasn't Kagome. Sota rounded the corner up ahead and upon seeing his idol, Inu-Yasha, his face split into a massive grin. He ran forward to the hanyou,

"Hey Inu-Yashaaaa!" He called out excitedly, "What are you doing here? I thought you weren't coming." Inu-Yasha stared down at the small boy.

"I'm looking for Kagome. You thought I wasn't coming to what?"

"To Kagome's birthday party, silly." Sota laughed, "She's gone out with some friends to the cinema, I can take you there if you want. You can borrow my cap to hide your ears." But Inu-Yasha wasn't listening, he was thinking deeply about something.

"What are birthday parties like here?" he asked the excited Sota.

"Oh you know! Decorations, games, food, cake and of course presents!" Inu-Yasha had heard all he had needed to hear and turned back to Kagome's room.

"I'm going now. Don't you dare tell Kagome I was here."

**Later that Evening**

Kagome dragged herself upstairs and flopped onto her bed. She had had a great, yet exhausting day, half of it spent with her friends and the other half with her family. She had been given lots of great presents, eaten as much cake as was physically possible and was now ready for a long, much needed sleep. As she forced herself up to get ready for bed, her mind drifted to Inu-Yasha.

"Maybe I was a bit hard on him," she thought, "he didn't know it was my birthday and as Naraku is getting stronger it is important we collect as many shards as possible. Perhaps I'll go back tomorrow and help him look for that spider." Her mind made up, she lay down on her bed and went to sleep, her dreams filled with images from her 16th birthday.

The next morning, Kagome got up, got dressed, had a large breakfast and packed her bag for a day or two in the feudal era. Leaping into the well she passed through and then started to climb out again. When she reached the top she saw a flash of red, but when she turned her head she saw nothing.

"Inu-Yasha?" she called uncertainly, but receiving no reply she disregarded it as a trick of the eye and continued on her way. Reaching Kaede's hut she stood outside and looked around. It was strangely quiet, normally on a sunny day like this, she would have at least seen one of her feudal friends. She hadn't seen Kaede mixing herbs, Sango training, Miroku watching Sango, Shippō playing with his spinning tops or even Inu-Yasha, sitting and brooding. It was strange and when she got no answer to the knock on Kaede's door her worry only deepened. Pushing the door open she rushed inside.

"SURPRISE!" Kagome jumped back as Kaede, Sango, Miroku, Shippō and Inu-Yasha all appeared in front of her.

"Wha! What's going on!" She looked around, the whole hut was decorated in bright reds, blues, yellows and greens, in the corner there was a large table covered in food including what looked like a large cake without the candles. All her friends laughed at her stunned expression.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAGOME!" They chanted. Kagome felt herself being pulled further into the room and the pack taken off of her shoulders to be placed in another corner of the room and forgotten about.

"H…how did you know?" she asked them.

"Inu-Yasha found out," Miroku answered, "he went to your world through the well and your brother told him." Shippō jumped onto Kagome's shoulder and hugged her, saying excitedly,

"We spent all of yesterday preparing this for you, I helped with the decorations do you like them?"

"I love them Shippō, thank you so much, all of you."

"Can we show her now? Can we can we?" Shippō was bouncing with excitement.

"Show me what?" A blindfold was placed over Kagome's eyes.

"Another surprise." Came Sango's voice. There was the sound of shuffling as something was brought in from a small room to the side and placed on a table.

"Ok," it was Miroku speaking this time, "ready?" The blindfold was whipped off and Kagome was left staring at the object on the table. It was a bow. A brand new bow with a matching quiver of arrows. It was beautiful and she picked it up to get a better look. It was hand crafted, the wood was smooth and shiny, there was a gold pattern that looked like a vine traced along the wood, the string was strong and new and, peering closely, she saw her name engraved in the side. The quiver matched the bow, it was made from the same shiny wood and had the same gold pattern on it. It also had some charms stuck across it, courtesy of Kaede Kagome guessed. The strap was just the right length for her and was white and green. The feathers on the ends of the arrows were also white and green and Kagome realised it was to match her uniform. She turned to her friends clutching the gift tightly, she would no longer have to take bows from dead warriors, of borrow old flimsy ones from the villagers, she now had her very own.

"Thank you guys! So much!" Her friends grinned.

"Come on then!" shouted Shippō, "We've got some fun games to play!" They all then proceeded to play much older versions of party games, and Kagome introduced the gang to a few she knew. It was part way through that Kagome noticed that Inu-Yasha had disappeared. He had been there a moment ago, but now the Hanyou was gone. Kagome felt a jolt of sadness, had he been bored? Had he not thought her birthday party important? She tried to forget him and just enjoy herself, but knowing that he wasn't there made that impossible. As soon as she could she slipped out of the hut, and looked around, maybe he had just come outside for a bit of fresh air. But he wasn't there. Sighing, she sank to the floor, leaning against the hut wall. She didn't feel much like having a party now.


	3. Another Present

Disclaimer: Again! No I do not own Inu-Yasha!

**Chapter 3- Another Present **

Kagome decided to go for a walk, if she stayed where she was the others would find her and right now she didn't feel like joining in the party. Getting up she made her way through the forest, she wasn't really paying much attention to where she was, until she found herself at the God tree. Staring up through the branches she saw a speck of red among the green.

"Inu-Yasha" she called out softly. Even from her spot on the ground Kagome saw the Hanyou give a start. The fact that he hadn't heard her even with his heightened senses showed that he must have been really deep in thought. He peered down at her.

"What are you doing here," he asked her, "shouldn't you be at the party?" Kagome felt herself anger a little.

"What about you? Isn't my birthday party important enough for you to even attend!"

"It's not that!" Inu-Yasha insisted, "I just needed to do something."

"What, sit in a tree and brood! Nice to know you care!" She turned to leave, the hanyou had effectively ruined her birthday and she felt like being alone.

"Wait!" Something in Inu-Yasha's voice made her pause and turn back. She watched him jump out from the tree to land nimbly in front of it. She felt her heart flutter slightly at the action, but kept a straight face. He walked towards her. "I wasn't sure when to give you this," he was looking at the floor and Kagome could hear the nervousness in his voice. He brought his hand out from where it had been hiding round his back. "Happy birthday." He mumbled. Kagome took the small box with a trembling hand; she looked up at the hanyou, slowly removed the lid and gasped. Inside, neatly placed, was a necklace, almost identical to the beads that bound Inu-Yasha to Kagome's command. The round beads were red and the fang shaped ones white. Taking it out of the box Kagome held the treasure in her hand staring at it, amazed.

"Inu-Yasha," she managed to choke out, she was so happy that he did care about her birthday that she was close to tears. He took the beads gently from her hand and stepped closer, slipping them round her neck as he did so. He raised one clawed hand to her cheek and stroked it gently, staring into her eyes with his great amber ones.

"Happy birthday Kagome." He whispered again, before leaning in and giving her a soft kiss. Kagome's eyes widened in shock as Inu-Yasha's lips found their way to hers and it took a couple of seconds for her to comprehend what was happening, but when she did, she relaxed and gently kissed back. When they parted, the hanyou smiled at her. "We should probably get back to the party," he said quietly, "the others will wonder where we are." Kagome nodded, having lost the ability to speak and, taking hold of each others hand, the pair walked back through the forest. As they went, Kagome wondered if Inu-Yasha knew that he had given her the best birthday present she had ever had in her life.


End file.
